I like this picture because it offers up a range of shop fronts, from the traditional to the brand new.
And there is no doubting that when Shelia Montgomery and the Electricity Board opted for their bold and striking fronts they were staking a claim to being modern and at the cutting age of the new Britain.
Back in the late 1950s and early 60s I was too young to appreciate just how much of a break with tradition they were, and by the time I was in my teens they were so commonplace that I took them for granted.
But in 1961 they stood out as very different from the fashion shop of S. Pickles, which will noy have changed over much since the row of houses with their shops were built.
And walking back along the parade, Rushtons, Sprent and the supermarket had also chosen modernity over tradition.
I had thought we were on Princes Road and certainly some of the other pictures in the collection suggest so, but pinning down these shops has so far proved inconclusive.
And happily Michael Wood, came back with this, "Looking at the shop fronts I just got an inkling this was Alexandra Road, and sure enough in the Local Image Collection there is Sheila Montgomery on m30313, next door to Rushtons just before they too had gone for a makeover with the trendy brash new signboard seen in your photo!
My mum used to occasionally go shopping along here in the 60s as it offered some cheaper alternatives to the Chorlton shops, and I used to pass along here whenever I got the bus into town.
It was always bustling, with so much dense housing nearby. There is also m30349 in 1972 both Sheila and Sprent beyond Rushtons have disappeared and the place looks a bit jaded! Interesting series of photos".
And as ever Michael's correction shows how the blog is always a collaborative project.
Location; Manchester
Picture; shop fronts, 1961, 1961-3476.4, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
*"I have seen the future, and it works", Lincoln Austin Steffens, 1919, after visiting the Soviet Union
Think you'll find we're on Alexandra Road, there was something familiar about these shops as I would have passed them on the 80 or 88 bus into town.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Alexandra Road, Redmans supermarket is just in shot. My dear old Mum used to take me shopping there with her. It was a new fangled shopping experience and I clearly recall wondering what the piped muzak they used to play was for. I could only have been around 10 at the time.
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